The excitement this week is over two species of goose. On Sept. 28, Bob Shriber reported a greater white-fronted goose on Chilmark Pond. They breed in the Canadian Arctic and winter in the Louisiana/Texas area, and are considered a rare vagrant on the Island. Then, on Oct. 4, Lanny McDowell spotted a possible graylag goose at Chilmark Pond, a European species that is not found in North America according to the international ebird database.
Unfortunately, for either of these sightings, it is very difficult to distinguish wild birds from their domestic relatives that are kept on some farms. So far I have not been able to confirm whether these sightings are of wild or domestic birds so stay tuned for further information.
Bird Sightings
Birding has been pretty quiet these past few weeks.
A new species for the fall is the juvenile harlequin duck spotted at Zach’s cliffs in Aquinnah by Bob Shriber on Oct. 4. This species is a regular winter resident that mostly frequents the rocky shorelines from Lucy Vincent to Aquinnah, although it is occasionally reported from down-Island. Lanny McDowell found another winter resident species — a great cormorant — on Oct. 1 on the lower Chilmark Pond.
On the shorebird front, Warren Gossen spotted a flock of 11 greater yellowlegs in the marshes at the southern end of Sengekontacket Pond on Oct. 5, the same day that I spotted two of them near Prime Marine on the west arm of Lagoon Pond. Also that day, Sharon Simonin spotted seven oystercatchers at Little Beach on Oct. 5. Both these species will be disappearing for the season pretty soon.
Songbird sightings include Happy Spongberg’s six flickers, many robins, Carolina wrens and an eastern towhee, all in her yard. Also reporting the latter species are Sharon Simonin, Kevin Searle, Bob Morse and Judy Bryant. This is the peak of the towhee southward migration.
Southbound ruby-throated hummingbirds are getting more scarce. Two weeks ago I reported 25 people had been seeing them at their feeders, but now only 10 people still have them: George Stein, Charlie Kernick, Jean McCarthy, Jeanne Black, Roxanne Klein, Rick Karney, Sarah Delaney, Jacquie Callahan, Mary Beth Baptiste and Nancy Rogers. While they will be disappearing, this is the season for stray western hummers to show up.
Hawks are in the news too. Most interesting is Pete Gilmore’s Oct. 6 report of two peregrine falcons in flight at Lambert’s Cove Beach, “dueling over the dunes right next to me!”
He also reports that great egret, belted kingfisher and three common loons were also present. The previous day he joined Lanny McDowell at the Gay Head cliffs, where they spotted three merlins, a few sharpies and numerous Cooper’s hawks.
The only songbird of note at the cliffs was a lark sparrow on Oct. 5. It was sunning at edge of tall privets by the Heritage Center. Is this the same bird that has been there for a while now or has each sighting these past few weeks been of different individuals? We will never know.
Matt Pelikan also visited the cliffs on Oct. 5 and noted that it was very quiet there, with only a couple of palm warblers, a Cooper’s Hawk and lots of blue jays. Perhaps most interestingly, he reports seeing a flock of Canada geese heading out over the ocean to the southwest until they were out of sight. They were undoubtedly wild migrants from the north rather than our year-round resident individuals.
Many birders that frequent the Gay Head cliffs area in search of interesting songbirds have commented that birds are few and far between there. Why is this? Thinking positively, maybe the weather was so favorable for migration in September that the songbirds have already packed their bags and headed south. It is also possible that the birds are just tucked deep into the thickets, making them difficult to spot.
Unfortunately, the likely truth is more discouraging. A recent study confirms what many long-time birders have noted, that birds are much less abundant than they were several decades ago. The depressing results of the analysis show that populations of all birds have declined by almost 30 per cent since 1970. While there are many reasons for this decline, the most important of them is habitat loss. Their former habitats have been chopped down, mowed, built on or otherwise converted to human usage, even here on the Island.
Please report your sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant with Nature Watch LLC living in Vineyard Haven.
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